Mid-Hudson On30 Meet Report

April 27-28, 2007

Once again it was time for Dave Camisa, my wife Nancy and myself to journey up the Hudson River to beautiful downtown Gardiner, NY to attend the Mid-Hudson On30 meet. Once again we had a fantastic time, and I thought that I'd post my impressions of the meet for all those who could not attend.

Allen Littlefield organizes the show twice a year, in the months of April and October. So first off, my thanks to Allen and to all those who contributed to making it another great show.

I had been in the On30 modeling 'doldrums' for the past six months, and I am now officially and totally out of them. Time to start enjoying the hobby again.

I got to wear Dave Camisa's EBT brakeman's hat!

The show filled the room that Allen had reserved.

Venors and manufacturers showed their wares, and modelers showed off their work.

There was a beautiful modular layout exhibited, and there were clinics and demos.

So on with the show!

PLEASE NOTE: As usual, I took a bunch of photo's but missed alot that I wanted to get pix of, so to anyone I left out, please forgive me. Also, if I get any information incorrect, such as spelling of people's names, (a highly likely situation) please send me an email and correct me. I will make the correction immediately. Lastly, and again as usual, I took insufficient notes about many of the photo's, so if you recognize any photo's that have incorrect or missing information, please email me and it will be corrected/added.

Les Davis' Wood Weathering Clinic

The building fronts used were provided by Ed Fillion of Deerfield River Laser. Thanks guys.

The Connecticut Group's Modular Layout

Sandy Alonzo and Rob Larson entertain Alan Carroll

Modelers Sandy Alonzo, Jim Skeffington, Rob Larson and Newell Sage brought their modular On30 layout. From these photo's, and those of the show floor above, you can get some idea of the layout's track plan.

My poor photo's don't do this layout justice.

These two photo's are of Bachmann passenger cars that have been modified into shorty cars.

I love this type of short passenger car, and think that these two look great.

Here are a few scenes from the modular layout.

Note: Though not a very good photo, the little red Brookville was build from one of Barry McClelland's Railway Recollection On18 kits. For more details on this and other kits, check out the Railway Recollections website

My thanks to Sandy, Ron, Jim and Newell for sharing their layout with us at the show. If you are going to the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Portland this August be sure to look for this layout there.

The Models

Here are some of the many fine models that were exhibited.

Our host and the show's founder, Allen Littlefield, had this little gem on display.

Colin Claxon usually brings a display layout featuring a western theme, and this show was no different.

Check out the distinct southwestern US flavor. It reminds me of John Olson's Tascosa y Calico and Malcolm Furlow's latest 'border brawler'.

CClaxon03.jpg

Colin told me that the buildings are made from foamcore board with the stucco added using Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty. Great work!

This little 'greasy spoon' diner was built from plans posted to the net by Tom Yorke. To download a copy of Tom's article, click here! You may have to join the Yorke Kits Yahoo group to access this file. It uses a Gnomy tram as the basis for this neat little bash.

I really love Colin's use of details and figures.

John Engbers is a talented and prolific On30 traction modeler.

He brought some of his traction models and displayed them on Colin's layout.

Jim Mcintyre had a double barreled treat in store for us. First was a shadow box display.

This clever scene included an animated log loader. The unit can be connected to others to form a layout consisting of various scenes. A unique idea for a layout indeed!

Jim also had his Rainbow Mines layout.

This is a real beauty.

Les Davis, in addition to conducting a clinic, had many beautiful models on display.

These are just a few examples of Les' craftsmanship.

More About Modules

The Tri-State On30 Modules Group had an informal bs session at the meet.

From left to right, we have Geren Mortensen, Larry Rickert, Dave Camisa, Bob Dobrowolski, Paul Harbord, and GWBill Henderson. Geren and GW are members of the Mid-Atlantic On30 Modules group and have been giving us much needed and appreciated advice and encouragement, as well as letting us adapt their standards for our group.

"What the hell IS that"?

A few of the Tri-State group inspect a light weight module designed and built by Justin Maguire.

Justin is an expert at building lightweight modules. That's Don Kralik sitting next to Justin.

Justin graciously demonstrated some of his construction methods for us.

If you live in the NY, NJ, CT, PA area and would be interested in building a module and joining our group, click here!

Vendors and Manufacturers

What would a train meet be without lots of goodies to purchase and drool over? There were plenty at the show as evidenced by the large dent in my wallet. These folks were willing to take the time to come to the show and display their wares for us and are deserving of our support. I can recommend them all from personal experience: